How to Make a D.I.Y Chicken Drinker
What You'll Need:
- 3-6 Horizontal side mount poultry nipples
- Drill bit to mount nipples
- A 1/8" drill bit
- Large bucket and lid (if you can source a food safe bucket, that's ideal)
- Power drill or impact driver
Build Your Own Chicken Waterer in 4 Easy Steps
Step 1: Gather your drill, drill bits, poultry nipples, bucket and lid. Use 3-6 nipples per bucket. Your flock should have about 1 nipple for every 6-8 birds, or 1 for every 3-4 birds in hot climates. Make extra waterers if necessary.
Step 2: Drill holes for the poultry nipples 1-1.5 inches from the bottom of the bucket. Screw in the nipples by hand leaving a slight gap between the nipple and the bucket so as to prevent your container from cracking.
Step 3: Use your 1/8" drill bit to drill two small holes near the top of your bucket. These holes are very important. They prevent a vacuum seal from forming in the bucket. When a vacuum is created no water will flow from the nipples and your chicks will become dehydrated
Note: Some instructions advise putting these small holes in the lid. I always put them on the side of the bucket, near the top, instead of the lid, so that they can't be sealed by things like chicken poop. I don't know about you but my chickens LOVE to poop on everything
Step 5: Introduce your chickens to their new waterer! Train any chicken two weeks or older on their new waterer by holding them and gently pressing their beak to the nipple until they get a sip of water. Chicks will learn quickly and also teach others.
That's it! You've made your own poultry waterer and for a fraction of the cost of what you'd spend on a ready-made version. With care, these buckets will last for years.
